City Students Get Wrong Message From Free Cds

September 18, 1996|By RICK GREEN; Courant Staff Writer

A well-intended promotion turned out to be the wrong kind of back-to-school message for some students at Hartford's Simpson-Waverly School.

Now, Hartford school administrators and a local promoter are apologizing to parents after giving their children, some as young as third-graders, free CDs of an artist who uses foul language and sexually explicit lyrics. One of the songs on the CD in question is called ``Bump 'N Grind.'' The CDs were distributed last week to the children as a reward for showing up for school.

The CDs by rhythm-and-blues artist R. Kelly were given out under a rewards program organized by Lisa Nkonoki, a local promoter who also runs the nonprofit Dream Shot Foundation with former University of Connecticut basketball star Tate George.

``In the future, nothing will be distributed to kids unless it is reviewed by the system,'' said Superintendent of Schools Nicholas LaRosa, who referred all other questions to Nkonoki.

``I just feel really bad,'' Nkonoki said. ``We will apologize for anything that happened. Never was it our intent to hurt these guys.''

The CDs were left over from a celebrity basketball game on Sept. 8, where students who attended were given prizes. A volunteer brought the CDs, along with numerous other prizes, to Simpson-Waverly and other schools last week.

Although she agreed it was inappropriate to give the music to young children, Nkonoki said that ``nobody put a gun to [their] head to distribute it.'' The other schools rejected the CDs, she said.

Nkonoki is formerly the director of the school system's volunteer program. She offered to help the school district with its efforts to lure more students back to school on opening day. But her efforts were troubled from the start.

A press conference billed to promote celebrities in schools on the first day of classes attracted no celebrities. A celebrity basketball tournament that was to take place at the Hartford Civic Center was nearly cancelled, and wound up at Weaver High School. Many students never received tickets to the event,which they had been promised as a reward for showing up on the first day of school, which has traditionally been a problem in Hartford. Last year, 6,000 students in Hartford were absent on the first day of school.

Nkonoki, organizer of a program called ``Dads Do Make A Difference'' that promotes more parental involvement, said she will remain involved with city schools.